A Waterlily in the Firecourt
by SwissEagle
Summary: Katara is captured by the enemy, and made into a court-lady. She is merely an ornament, her bending taken away and her feet bound. Her future seems hopeless. Why is Mai trying to help her? possible Kataang, Maiko, or the pairings may switch.
1. Chapter 1

And here is a new story! Yippee! AUish

I don't own Avatar the last Airbender.

Katara was speckled with blood and dirt, sweating from everywhere. She had been separated from the others, and the firebending was back on again, so to speak. There were guards in fancy red uniforms surrounding her, fire came from every direction.

"_Where is Aang?!" _She thought frantically, water swirling around her, barely keeping her from getting burned. "Sokka! Dad! I need you!" she screamed, as a huge fire blast broke through her wall of water.

She was forced down by an overly eager guard, who hit her over the head with the butt of his spear. "_Aang... "_ was the last thought that went through her mind.

Katara's eyes slowly reopened. As her vision cleared, she discovered she was in a room with bars constituting most of the walls. A prison cell. She immediately scrambled up to the bars, looking out to see if she saw anyone she recognized.

A couple of aristocratic, Fire Nation faces looked back at her, lifting their eyebrows disdainfully. She looked away in disgust. Where had her family gone?! Where was Aang? Where was Toph? Were they even alive?

She shook her head to clear it of those depressing thoughts. For now, she would get out of here. She was still slick with sweat, so she prepared to use the same trick she had used when Toph and herself had been caught in a wooden prison cell a week or two ago.

She thrust out her hands, and then blinked. Nothing had happened. She repeated the motion once, then twice, then kept doing it frantically, feeling like a piece of her had been torn away. How could they take her bending?!

Just then, the door creaked as a pair of female guards unlocked it and came in. One of them snickered at her still trying to bend. "Bet you thought you were really somethin' before, huh? Now you're just weak and worthless!"

Katara glared at the guard, who just snickered, seizing Katara's arm. The other guard, who apparently was less talkative, grabbed Katara's other arm.

"Fire Lord Ozai wishes to speak with you."

Katara gasped. What would that horrible demon do to her?

As she was dragged into the throne room, Katara could feel her heartbeat quickening. This was the terrible man Aang had set out to defeat... She realised then, with a sickening drop of her heart, that the entire attack had been a failure.

As she looked up, she saw a wall of fire, and a man behind it. She was forced to her knees by the guards, who were also kneeling in reverence. Fire Lord Ozai stood up, and came forward slowly without a word.

Katara looked at him nervously, and gasped when she realized he looked exactly like Zuko, except without the scar. The corners of his mouth twisted into a smirk at her gasp.

"So..." he said casually, pacing around Katara, "You really are pretty for a peasant, aren't you?"

She looked up in surprise. He was... complimenting her? What was wrong with him? What tricks was he playing?

He chuckled. "Prince Zuko told me about you. You are the daughter of the chieftan of the Southern Water Tribe, correct?" She nodded dumbly, wondering why Zuko would tell his dad she was pretty.

"Good. You will be staying in my courts as a.. guest of sorts. I'm sure your father will be willing to negotiate now..." He said, stroking his beard thoughtfully. Katara almost shuddered at the strangely cruel look in his eyes.

"My father will not do anything you want!" she said, surprising Ozai with her boldness. His surprise changed to amusement quickly, however. "Take her to get ready." he commanded the guards, both of whom saluted and forced Katara up onto her feet.

They led her out, Katara wondering what it would mean to be a guest 'of sorts.'

After walking in silence for a few minutes, a marble archway came into view. Katara was led through this by her escorts, one of whom sneezed on entering, due to all the powder in the air.

A severe woman in a red kimono came their way. "Another one for me to prepare?" she said, grabbed Katara's face and examining her. "Hmmm... Nice eyes, nose could be a better shape, skin tone will do nicely with gold accents, and her face shape is perfect. Although, her feet are huge. " The woman released Katara's face. Katara scowled at being examined like an ostrich-horse for sale.

The woman gestured impatiently. "Can't you two ruffians do anything without being meticulously instructed? Bring her over to the chair, and then you may go." Katara was swiftly moved to the chair, and to her horror, strapped to the armrests and foot rest. That could not be a good sign.

The woman tsked at the dirty affair Katara's face was, and before Katara knew it she was attacked by assistants bearing clothes with stinging remedies on them scrubbing at her face. They also stripped her down, rubbing her whole body with the stinging stuff.

"This will make your skin soft and glowing. We will need to reapply every week." The woman informed her. She then took some of Katara's hair in her hand. "In desperate need of a trim," she announced, and her assistants rushed to get scissors and haircare products. Katara began to squirm. "My hair is just fine!"

"No, it is not. To put it up into the current style, we will need to shorten it a little." With that, the woman snipped away at Katara's hair. She took off a couple inches, and then Katara's whole head was cleaned with a strangely warm substance. "This will give your hair shine, something it lacks." The woman told her.

Now they dressed her in a silk robe, and unstrapped her from the chair. She was led over to another chair with comfortable cushions. This one had straps as well, but also for around the waist.

"Now comes the difficult part.." the woman muttered, as one of her assistants looked very pale. "Get me the silk strips. And the honeydew lotion." First the woman went over her feet with the lotion, her assistants hanging back and watching. She turned to them as she took two silk strips in her hand.

"The trick is to break it quickly, but in the right shape," she said, looping the strips around Katara's feet. Katara was now feeling exceptionally uneasy. " Wait, what are you doing?" she asked, fear inching its way up her spine.

The woman did not respond, instead tightening the strips with a sudden snap. Katara cried out in surprise and agony as her foot was swiftly and deftly bound up. "Give her something to grip, imbeciles!" the woman snapped at her assistants, who jumped and placed a rock in Katara's hand.

Katara could feel a second pair of strips wrapping around her other foot. "Wait!" she cried out frantically, screaming again when the woman broke her other foot. She cried, as the pain was unbearable.

She felt mild surprise as the straps were unbuckled and she was hugged by the woman, who patted her on the back. "That's right, let it out..."

As soon as the tears stopped coming, however, the woman was all business again. "Shin, get the goldtone makeup kit. Yon, get the ruby accented jewelry." She immediately began wiping Katara's face clean. Shin returned with what looked like gold paint in a bunch of different compartments. The woman took this and began to paint delicate designs on Katara's face.

As she did this, Shin gathered Katara's hair up into a beatiful bun, with wavy locks of hair loose from it. Yon put a tiara with a ruby in the middle on her head, and once the woman had finished, she also put a necklace and earrings on Katara. This required piercing Katara's ears, but the pain was nothing to Katara.

Finally, they dressed her in beautiful red robes and tiny red shoes. The two guards from earlier showed up at the doorway, and they forced Katara onto her feet. It was a painful, slow walk, but finally they made it to her new room, which was not large, but it was rather pretty.

She sat on the bed, then as soon as the guards left, fell back in despair. How would she ever go home?

There was a knock on her door sometime later. Katara did not respond, but the door opened anyway. In came the girl Katara had learned to despise, Princess Azula herself, flanked by her best friends, Ty Lee and Mai.

Katara sat up, looking defiantly at Azula. Azula laughed. "As if you could scare me. You probably won't ever be able to fight again. Not that it will really matter, considering there will be nothing left for you to fight for soon."

Katara glared, hating the Fire Nation princess with every bone in her body. Ty Lee looked on uncomfortably, while Mai wore an expression of indifference. Azula cackled. "You're completely helpless, so I suggest you treat me with more respect!" she punctuated her sentence with a slap to Katara, who fell off the bed and hit the floor with a whimper, having jammed her foot into the bed post.

Azula just laughed and left, done for now. Ty Lee ignored Katara for the most part, leaving as well.

Katara sniffled, righting herself into a sitting position on the floor. She began muttering under her breath, until she realised she was not alone. Mai still stood impassively in the doorway. Katara glared at her, trying to get back up onto the bed without hurting her feet. She was startled when Mai silently offered a hand.

Looking suspiciously at the goth teen, she hesitated. Why would Azula's gloomy henchwoman want to help her? But Mai persistently offered her hand, and Katara finally took it, the need to get up onto the bed overcoming her suspicion for now.

She's even more surprised when a small bottle is pressed into her hand. "Why are you giving me this?" she asked, looking confused. Mai shrugged. "It's for the pain." And with that, the gloomy girl turned and headed out the door, leaving Katara wondering where the heck that came from.

The next day, Katara found out what her new duties were.

She was now to stand a few feet from Ozai whenever he had company. In essence, she was an ornament. A trophy.

It disgusted her, and it was boring to boot. Ozai had all kinds of meetings going on, and none of them concerned anything she was interested in knowing. So she stood their, her feet aching, and her mind somewhere else entirely, back home with Sokka and Aang. How she missed her makeshift family! She wondered how Toph was putting up with being the only girl now.

Her father was probably worried sick. Did they even know where she was? Would they come for her?

She spent the rest of the day daydreaming about being with her family, flying on Appa together.

As she hobbled back to her room, she sighed in relief. She didn't think she could have taken standing much longer.

She pushed the door open to her room, and was startled by Mai standing by her bed. "What are you doing in here?" she asked, raising her eyebrows in surprise. Mai came over and helped her undo the restricting sash on her robes. "Just giving you a hand." Mai said with an almost-smile.

That was it. Katara could stand it no longer. "Okay, why are you really helping me? We both know you're not this nice to the average stranger!" Mai sighed. "Maybe I just like you."

Katara shook her head vigorously. "I don't think so. What's your real reason?"

Mai sighed, and sat down on the bed. Katara came over, cautiously sitting next to her. "It's Zuko."

Katara blinked in surprise. "What does Zuko have to do with me? I hate the guy!" Mai sighed again. "He's my boyfriend. Or at least, he was. During the day of Black Sun, he left to join the Avatar." Katara's mouth formed an 'O', as she was completely blindsided by this information. She held up both hands, finding her voice. "Whoa, wait a minute, why would Zuko want to join Aang? He's been trying to capture him for the past few months!"

Mai pulled a scroll out of her clothing. "This is the letter he left me. Here." She handed it to Katara, who snatched it, pouring over it. She was surprised at the fact Zuko obviously had cared about this girl, but more surprised by his explanation.

Her eyes narrowed in suspicion. "How do I know this isn't a trap? How do I know you're not just trying to use me to find Aang or learn his weaknesses or something?"

Mai looked over at her with pleading evident in her features. "Because, this is my boyfriend I'm talking about. I just want to find him and join him. Please."

Katara was startled by the display of emotion, and now she was torn. Mai cleared her throat, and stood. "Don't tell anyone about the letter. I'll give you time to think about it. But remember, I can get you out of here and with the Avatar again if you help me. I promise."

And before Katara could reply, Mai was gone.

Yay! Please review if you liked it!


	2. Chapter 2

Well, since I got a review, and I really like my story idea so far, I though I'd make a second chapter!

I don't own Avatar!

Katara sat on her bed, her golden makeup smeared on her face as she rubbed at it. Mai did seem like she was being truthful, but it's not like Katara knew if the girl could act or not. She'd barely even known her before now!

She felt a sick pang as she thought of her family, and how much she wanted to see them again. With her bound feet and lack of bending, she was almost helpless. She wouldn't be able to get out of here without help, and it seemed Mai was her best bet.

Katara groaned and threw herself back against her pillows. This was going to be a sleepless night indeed....

The next morning, she was taken in for another makeup session. She sighed as she looked in the mirror. Would her family even be able to recognize her like this?

As she entered the court again, she noticed one of the court advisors staring at her. She stared back as forcefully as she dared, but he didn't waver, which made her squirm throughout the entire meeting.

Every time she looked over, he was staring. One time he even winked.

When the monotonous meeting was finally over, she almost fled from the court. She shuddered as she made her way to her room. Her feet throbbed now, due to her putting so much force into hurrying away.

She pushed the door open, and sat on the bed, fumbling with the uncomfortable girdle.

She was startled by a voice. "Need any help with that?"

Mai stood by the bed and came over, undoing the girdle easily. Katara stared at the ground, wondering if Mai was going to bring up Zuko again. However, somewhat awkward silence followed. Katara almost squirmed, having sat silently all day in court.

"So, how's your brother?" Katara blurted, glancing at Mai. Mai raised an eyebrow, but replied. "He's fine. He's already grown three inches since you last kidnapped him." Katara winced as she remembered that incident. No, they hadn't actually kidnapped Mai's brother, he'd followed them out, but it had probably appeared to be a kidnapping from Mai's family's perspective.

Mai just shrugged like it wasn't a big deal. "I actually haven't seen him in while. My mother sends letters and pictures."

Katara grinned a little uneasily. "That's sweet." Mai just nodded, helping Katara take off her many bracelets. Katara bit her lip, still thinking about what Mai had asked yesterday.

"A-about the letter, and Zuko..." Katara said, catching Mai's attention. "Yes?..." Mai asked, waiting for her to go on. Katara swallowed. "I know where they probably are, and I can help you find them."

Mai nodded, seeming to think it over. "That's good. I'd better get things in order. We'll need to leave tomorrow." Katara tilted her head to one side. "When tomorrow?" Mai shook her head. "I'll come and tell you. Stay put."

And with that the gloomy girl left the room.

Katara waited, lying back on her bed, and thinking. Did Aang miss her? Well, that was really a stupid question, of course he missed her, she was like his mother. Did her father even make it out? Mai would probably have no way of knowing something like that.

Would Toph do okay without her? She knew Toph was tough, but she had a feeling she was having a rough time being the only female. She was worried they would attempt a rescue mission. She hoped they didn't, that Sokka would know it was stupid to try.

It was unbearable, not knowing if your whole family was alright and what they were doing. She sighed and loosened her hair from its bun. Still, she hoped she had done the right thing in trusting Mai...

She felt a sudden wave of nausea. What if it was still a trick, and in her selfishness of wanting to get out, she was putting her entire family in danger? She shook her head to dispel the nausea. Mai was telling the truth, she just had to be.

Suddenly her door opened. Katara sat up in surprise. Mai apparently didn't have a lot of loose ends to tie up. But then she saw who it was, and recoiled.

It was that court advisor from before, and the look in his eyes horrified her. "Hello, my lily, my dove.." he crooned, reaching out and wrapping his fingers in her hair. Katara felt panic rising rapidly in her throat.

"Get away from me!" She said in a terrified voice, giving him a push. He only wrapped his arms around her. "There's no need for pretense, no one's around..." he said in what he probably intended to be a soothing voice, but it came out in a creepy tone. Katara shook her head. "I don't like you, let go of me!"

"But my love, I could see the way your eyes yearned for affection.. and here I am!" he stroked her cheek as he said this, making her shiver. Katara felt tears spring to her eyes. "No, I'm not yearning for affection, not from you!"

"You're so beatiful... Your eyes are like glassy pools of water, and your skin is like smooth wood," he breathed in her ear, stroking her arm. "Your hair is like silk, and your body is perfect..."

Katara felt herself crying now. This man was not going to believe she wanted to get as far away from him as possible. "Please.. Just go away.." Katara pleaded, trying to push him away from her. Suddenly, however, his lips crashed into hers, making her want to scream but finding herself unable to do so. She tried slapping him, but it was like slapping leather.

She finally managed to break the kiss and cry out shrilly, "Let go of me! Let go!"

He tried to force his way into a second kiss, but suddenly fell down.

Katara pushed him away, and he flopped backwards. In front of her stood Mai, holding part of an expensive vase. She looked furious. Katara, without thinking, ran over to her, crying.

She was surprised when Mai actually hugged her. "It's okay, he's never going to bother you again." Mai promised, patting her on the back sympathetically. Then she made Katara face her. "We have to go now. Things have changed."

Katara simply nodded, and Mai grabbed her arm, leading her towards the door. "We're going to go to my room to get you some sort of disguise, and then we're leaving immediately."

Mai hurried Katara along, half-dragging her some of the time.

Finally, they made in into Mai's room. Mai had a bag packed and several changes of clothes already out, so she swiftly helped Katara into a set. It was mostly black with dark red undertones. She also handed Katara a knife. "This is a tanto. I trust you will know how to use it if the occasion should arise." Mai made sure Katara tucked the knife away where no one could see it.

Then they ducked out the door and went right out the gate.

Sorry this chapter isn't quite as long as the first.... But I thought it had enough material to constitute its own chapter. I hope you enjoyed it! I still haven't entirely decided on pairings...


	3. Chapter 3

Thank you everybody for the reviews! They sure make me excited!

I still don't own avatar.

Mai and Katara trudged along, having to go at a slow pace due to Katara's bound feet. A humid atmosphere made them both a little lazy, walking along in silence. Mai suddenly broke the silence.

"We have to do something about your feet." Katara looked over in slight surprise. She looked down at her tiny, deformed feet, and then back at Mai. "How do we unbind them? I already tried, the ties are too tight."

Mai shook her head. "You need a specialist for this sort of thing. If I try to unbind your feet, they will heal crooked."

Katara sighed. "Where do we find a specialist, exactly?" Pointing to the village ahead, Mai explained. "Find the oldest lady in the village, and she will probably know how to reset bound feet."

As they neared the village, Katara could see it was a fairly large one. Most of the roofs have shingles of some variety, unlike the river town Katara had seen that had thatched roofs. People were bustling about, carrying groceries and leading beasts of burden around. In the middle of the town, there seemed to be some sort of news shack.

Katara went over eagerly, hoping to see some news of Aang, Sokka or Toph. She looked around, seeing plenty of 'For Sale' signs, a few advertisments, some news about a new magistrate's court, and some wanted posters. She wasn't surprised the Aang, Toph and the Blue Spirit were on there, as well as Zuko. However, she stopped in surprise at the very familiar face on one of them.

"Mai! That's you!" she hissed, seizing Mai's shoulder and pulling her over. Mai looked mildly surprised. "And that's you." she gestured to the poster next to hers. However, it really didn't look anything like Katara, since it had hair loopies and her head was the wrong shape.

Katara looked a little impatient. "We need to hide you, someone might recognise you!" Mai pulled up the hood on her traveling cloak. "That will have to do for now."

Katara squirmed a little, wanting to hide Mai better than that, but she gave up for now. Mai turned to her. "We should go to find that old lady now."

They walked along farther, and finally Mai pointed out a house that seemed to have an almost innapropriate number of ornaments on the porch. They headed up the steps, and Mai knocked on the old door.

It creaked open. "Yes?" a wrinkled old face asked, peering out in the crack between the door and the door post. Mai looked seriously at her. "My companion needs your help." she said, gesturing towards Katara's stumpy little feet.

The woman seemed to consider them, then nodded, opening up the door most of the way. "Come in, come in."

Mai went forward quietly and confidently while Katara followed uncertainly.

As they made their way into a back room, the old lady was taking out several strange smelling liquids, and also took out a large bowl. She began to fill this with water. Katara watched nervously, having a feeling this was going to hurt.

The old lady reached out a wizened hand for Katara's hand, and led her to sit down on a chair with the bowl in front of her. She then took Katara's little feet in her hands, examining them. "Hmmm... It would seem the break hasn't even finished healing yet... We can still fix it, though..." she looked up at Katara finally, smiling with a little pity. "You might want to find something to grip, dear."

Katara looked around, starting to feel fear of what would happen, when Mai's pale hand extended towards her. Mai still had an indifferent look on her face, but Katara took the hand gratefully, and then took a deep breath. "I'm ready."

The old lady swiftly put some of the foul-smelling substances on Katara's feet, and began peeling back the bandages. Katara cried out with surprise at the pain as the pressure she had gotten used to left and her feet felt jolts of pain as the cramped muscles and tendons were forced to be put to use again.

Katara gripped Mai's hand like a lifeline as the old lady moved on to massaging the feet, though with Katara's broken bones, it felt like torture. "Just hold on, we're almost there," the woman reassured her, making her scream with the sudden snaps as she reset Katara's feet.

Mai was sure Katara was breaking her fingers, but she didn't let it show. She looked down at Katara's tear-streaked, agonised face, and felt anger towards whoever bound her feet in the first place.

Katara screamed one final time as the old lady finished setting the bones, and put Katara's feet in casts.

Katara sniffled while Mai nodded a thank you, and helped Katara get over to a more comfortable chair. The old lady watched, sensing a bond between the two girls. They would make it to wherever they were going, that was for sure...

Later that night, since the old lady had offered for them to stay the night, Katara and Mai lay on makeshift beds on the floor. It was quiet, and quite peacefull too, as the crickets chirped and some owls hooted. Katara had already gotten over the painful event earlier, and in fact was enjoying the fact she could wiggle her toes again.

Soon enough, she and Mai would find Aang and Zuko, and then everything would be normal again, if not better. Even if Zuko was with her family now. Nothing could honestly break the good feeling she had right now.

Mai sighed suddenly, bringing Katara out of her reverie. She looked over in mild concern. Mai looked over at her seriously, though it was dark enough Katara couldn't read her face that well. "Why did you trust me? I've never given you any reason to before."

Katara sighed thoughtfully. "I don't, just something about the look in your eye... You really miss Zuko, it's kind of obvious. I guess I can kind of identify."

"I guess you can." Mai agreed, still sounding tired and relaxed. Katara reached over and nudged Mai. "Hey, um... Do you know if I'll get my bending back?"

Mai smiled at the almost insecure tone Katara used. "Yes, in a little while Ty Lee's blocking should wear off. Any day now you'll be causing tsunamis again." Katara couldn't help but smile at that. "That's good... Thanks."

A yawn came from Mai, and she turned over. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to sleep."

Katara lay back, still dreaming of when she would see the Gaang again, and what it would be like to have Mai with her...

The next morning, they thanked the old woman for her hospitality and help, and then set out. Katara discovered with joy, as they walked along the path, that she could pull the dew right off the grass. Her bending had returned!

Mai smiled for Katara, understanding the feeling well enough. She would feel almost naked without her knives, after all.

As they entered the next town, which was even larger than the last, Mai felt tension. She noticed a man staring at her, and pulled her hood closer to her face. She turned to hiss at Katara, "Maybe we should leave. We have enough food for now."

Katara nodded, seeming to notice the openly staring man. Suddenly, however, a fist came crashing down on Mai's head. She let out a startled groan and fell down, feeling somewhat disoriented. Katara whirled around to see another man, this one just a little taller than the other, who was holding one of the wanted posters.

"Get away!" Katara snapped, immediately standing in front of her stunned companion. She heard a laugh from behind her as the staring man came over. "Oh, what are you going to do, little girl?" he demanded with a sneer.

Katara considered drawing the tanto Mai had given her, but decided against it. Instead, she pulled water from a nearby well and flung it at the sneering man. "This!" she hissed angrily as the water froze over the man, making him stuck to the wall behind him.

She pulled around more water to block an attack from the other man, who had drawn a sword.

Then she flung it at him as well, and his lower body was frozen in place. She seized Mai's arm, pulling her to her feet. "Come on, let's go!"

Mai stumbled along, a knot forming at the back of her head and her eyes unfocused. Katara yanked her along, and despite the fact they weren't really all that fast, they made it to the outside of the town, and Katara found a spot behind a thicket to hide. There, she set to work on Mai's head, and the knot shrunk on her care. Mai shook her head to clear it of cobwebs.

"What happened, exactly?" Mai asked, looking a little grumpy. "A pair of thugs recognised you, and one of them hit you over the head. I think he gave you a concussion, but I took care of it. I told you we needed to disguise you better..." Katara said, shaking a finger at Mai.

Well, I hope you guys enjoyed that chapter! I know I did!


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